It is not for nothing that two institutions backed by statutory powers were set up to safeguard Indian citizens’ rights, one on the larger matrix of human rights, and the other specifically to address issues of women.

When these two major bodies are not required at the state level it is assumed that everything is hunky-dory and that a particular state is in an ideal state of being. It also presumes that they will not be needed in the future.

In Maharashtra’s case, both these institutions are in limbo. The state’s Human Rights Commission is dysfunctional with all posts vacant for some time and the Commission for Women has been headless for the past four years, almost equal to a term that a chairperson would get to serve . . .